“According to their theories the incubi take the semen lost by men in dream and make use of it.  So that two questions arise:  first, can a child be born of such a union?  The possibility of this kind of procreation has been upheld by the Church doctors, who affirm, even, that children of such commerce are heavier than others and can drain three nurses without taking on flesh.  The second question is whether the demon who copulates with the mother or the man whose semen has been taken is the father of the child.  To which Saint Thomas answers, with more or less subtle arguments, that the real father is not the incubus but the man.”

“For Sinistrari d’Ameno,” observed Durtal, “the incubi and succubi are not precisely demons, but animal spirits, intermediate between the demon and the angel, a sort of satyr or faun, such as were revered in the time of paganism, a sort of imp, such as were exorcised in the Middle Ages.  Sinistrari adds that they do not need to pollute a sleeping man, since they possess genitals and are endowed with prolificacy.”

“Well, there is nothing further,” said Gevingey.  “Goerres, so learned, so precise, in his Mystik passes rapidly over this question, even neglects it, and the Church, you know, is completely silent, for the Church does not like to treat this subject and views askance the priest who does occupy himself with it.”

“I beg your pardon,” said Carhaix, always ready to defend the Church.  “The Church has never hesitated to declare itself on this detestable subject.  The existence of succubi and incubi is certified by Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas, Saint Bonaventure, Denys le Chartreux, Pope Innocent VIII, and how many others!  The question is resolutely settled for every Catholic.  It also figures in the lives of some of the saints, if I am not mistaken.  Yes, in the legend of Saint Hippolyte, Jacques de Voragine tells how a priest, tempted by a naked succubus, cast his stole at its head and it suddenly became the corpse of some dead woman whom the Devil had animated to seduce him.”

“Yes,” said Gevingey, whose eyes twinkled.  “The Church recognizes succubacy, I grant.  But let me speak, and you will see that my observations are not uncalled for.

“You know very well, messieurs,” addressing Des Hermies and Durtal, “what the books teach, but within a hundred years everything has changed, and if the facts I am are unknown to the many members of the clergy, and you will not find them cited in any book whatever.

“At present it is less frequently demons than bodies raised from the dead which fill the indispensable role of incubus and succubus.  In other words, formerly the living being subject to succubacy was known to be possessed.  Now that vampirism, by the evocation of the dead, is joined to demonism, the victim is worse than possessed.  The Church did not know what to do.  Either it must keep silent or reveal the possibility of the evocation of the dead, already forbidden by Moses, and this admission was dangerous, for it popularized the knowledge of acts that are easier to produce now than formerly, since without knowing it Spiritism has traced the way.